It’s a big day for the Embracer Group, the Swedish holding company which owns the likes of THQ Nordic, Koch Media, Saber Interactive and much more. The Gearbox Entertainment Company, known for the Borderlands franchise, is merging with the Embracer Group within the next three months. As part of the $1.3 billion transactions, the former will still be run by CEO Randy Pitchford.
Along with Gearbox employees becoming shareholders in the Embracer Group, the merger will allow for collaborating in terms of publishing, IPs and other mergers. Embracer Group founder and CEO Lars Wingefors said that, “Gearbox is arguably one of the most creative and valuable independent developers in the world. We believe that the resources offered by Embracer will position Gearbox for continued significant growth in the years to come.”
Of course, this isn’t the only major news for the holding company. It also confirmed the acquisition of Aspyr Media via its subsidiary Saber Interactive (where it will continue to remain standalone). Co-founder Michael Rogers said, “We are thrilled to join forces with Saber and to become part of the entire Embracer family. We are confident that Embracer is the ideal partner for us as we look to accelerate growth and execute on our exciting pipeline.
“We have been in the games industry for two and a half decades, but it feels like we are just getting started. We look forward to exploring opportunities to collaborate with other entrepreneurs within the wider Embracer Group to bring celebrated games to our fellow gamers around the world.”
Aspyr Media currently has several games in the works, including a “major ongoing game development project” with a budget of $70 million that is “expected to become an important for the entire group.” It will also look to build on its “vast catalogue during the next few years” while releasing new content for several licensed IP. Stay tuned for more details in the coming months.
